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LASER GUIDED MISSILES Seminar Report

1.INTRODUCTION

Laser
guidance
is a technique of guiding a missile or other projectile or vehicle
to a target by means of a laser beam. Some laser guided systems utilize beam
riding guidance, but most operate more similarly to semi-active radar homing
(SARH). This technique is sometimes called SALH, for Semi-Active
Laser Homing. With this technique, a laser is kept pointed at the target
and the laser radiation bounces off the target and is scattered in all
directions (this is known as “painting the target”, or “laser painting”). The
missile, bomb, etc. is launched or dropped somewhere near the target. When it
is close enough that some of the reflected laser energy from the target reaches
it, a laser seeker detects which direction this energy is coming from and
adjusts the projectile trajectory towards the source. As long as the projectile
is in the general area and the laser is kept aimed at the target, the
projectile should be guided accurately to the target.

Note
that laser guidance is not useful against targets that do not reflect much laser
energy, including those coated in special paint which absorbs laser energy. This
is likely to be widely used by advanced military vehicles in order to make it
harder to use laser rangefinders against them and harder to hit them with
laser- guided missiles. An obvious circumvention would be to aim the laser
merely close to the target.

2.
BACKGROUND

Missiles differ from rockets by virtue of a guidance system
that steers them towards a pre-selected target. Unguided, or free-flight,
rockets proved to be useful yet
frequently inaccurate weapons when fired from aircraft during the World War II. This inaccuracy, often resulting in
the need to fire many rockets to hit a single target, led to the search for a
means to guide the rocket towards its target. The concurrent explosion of radio-wave technology
(such as radar and radio detection devices) provided the first solution to this
problem. Several warring nations, including the United States, Germany and Great Britain mated existing rocket technology
with new radio- or radar-based guidance systems to create the world's first
guided missiles. Although these missiles were not deployed in large enough
numbers to radically divert the course of the World War II, the successes that
were recorded with them pointed out techniques that would change the course of
future wars. Thus dawned the era of high-technology warfare, an era that would
quickly demonstrate its problems as well as its promise.

The problems centered on the unreliability of the new
radio-wave technologies. The missiles were not able to hone in on targets
smaller than factories, bridges, or warships. Circuits often proved fickle and
would not function at all under adverse weather conditions. Another flaw
emerged
as jamming technologies flourished in response to the success of radar.
Enemy jamming stations found it increasingly easy to intercept the radio or
radar transmissions from launching aircraft, thereby allowing these stations to
send conflicting signals on the same frequency, jamming or
"confusing" the missile. Battlefield applications for guided
missiles, especially those that envisioned attacks on smaller targets, required
a more reliable guidance method that was less vulnerable to jamming.
Fortunately, this method became available as a result of an independent
research effort into the effects of light amplification.

Dr. Theodore Maiman built the first laser (Light
Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) at Hughes Research
Laboratories in 1960. The military realized the potential applications for
lasers almost as soon as their first beams cut through the air. Laser guided
projectiles underwent their
baptism of fire in the extended series of air raids that highlighted the
American effort in the Vietnam War. The accuracy of these weapons earned them
the well-known sobriquet of "smart weapons." But even this new
generation of advanced weaponry could not bring victory to U.S. forces in this
bitter and costly war. However, the combination of experience gained in Vietnam, refinements in laser
technology, and similar advances in electronics and computers, led to more
sophisticated and deadly laser guided missiles. They finally received
widespread use in Operation Desert Storm, where their accuracy and reliability
played a crucial role in the decisive defeat of Iraq's military forces. Thus,
the laser guided missile has established itself as a key component in today's
high-tech military technology.

3. SEMI ACTIVE RADAR HOMING

Semi-active radar homing, orSARH, is a common type of missile guidance system,
perhaps the most common type for longer range air
to air andsurface-to-air missilesystems.
The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only apassive detector of a radar signal–
provided by an external (“off board”) source — as it reflects off the target. The basic concept of SARH is that
since almost all detection and tracking systems consist of a radar system, duplicating this hardware on
the missile itself is redundant. In addition, the resolution of a
radar is strongly related to the physical size of the antenna, and in the small
nose cone of a missile there isn't enough room to provide the sort of accuracy
needed for guidance. Instead the larger radar dish on the ground or launch
aircraft will provide the needed signal and tracking logic, and the missile
simply has to listen to the signal reflected from the target and point itself
in the right direction. Additionally, the missile will listen rearward to the
launch platform's transmitted signal as a reference, enabling it to avoid some
kinds of radar jamming distractions offered by the target. Contrast this with beam riding
systems, in which the radar is pointed at the target and the missile keeps
itself centered in the beam by listening to the signal at the rear of the
missile body. In the SARH system the missile listens for the reflected signal
at the nose, and is still responsible for providing some sort of “lead”
guidance. The disadvantages are twofold: One is that a radar signal is “fan
shaped”, growing larger, and therefore less accurate, with distance. This means
that the beam riding system is not accurate at long ranges, while SARH is
largely independent of range and grows more accurate as it approaches the
target, or the source of the reflected signal it listens for. Another
requirement is that a beam riding system must accurately track the target at
high speeds, typically requiring one radar for tracking and another “tighter”
beam for guidance. The SARH system needs only one radar set to a wider pattern.

4. MISSILE COMPONENTS

Guided missiles are made up of a series of subassemblies.
The various subassemblies form a major section of the overall missile to
operate a missile system, such as guidance, control, armament (warhead and
fuzing), and propulsion. The major sections are carefully joined and connected to
each other. They form the complete missile assembly. The arrangement of major
sections in the missile assembly varies, depending on the missile type.

4.5.2 Fusing

The fuzing and firing system is normally located in or next
to the missile's warhead section. It includes those devices and arrangements
that cause the missile's payload to function in proper relation to the target.
The system consists of a fuze, a safety and arming (S&A) device, a
target-detecting device (TDD), or a combination of these devices. There are two
general types of fuzes used in guided missiles—proximity fuzes and contact
fuzes. Acceleration forces upon missile launching arm both fuzes. Arming is
usually delayed until the fuze is subjected to a given level of accelerating
force for a specified amount of time. In the contact fuze, the force of impact
closes a firing switch within the fuze to complete the firing circuit,
detonating the warhead. Where proximity fuzing is used, the firing action is
very similar to the action of proximity fuzes used with bombs and
rockets.

4.5.3 Safety And Arming (S&A) Devices:

S&A devices are electromechanical, explosive control
devices. They maintain the explosive train of a fuzing system in a safe
(unaligned) condition until certain requirements of acceleration are met after
the missile is fired.

4.5.4 Target-Detecting Devices (TDD):

TDDs are electronic detecting devices similar to the
detecting systems in VT fuzes. They detect the presence of a target and
determine the moment of firing. When subjected to the proper target influence,
both as to magnitude and change rate, the device sends an electrical impulse to
trigger the firing systems. The firing systems then act to fire an associated
S&A device to initiate detonation of the warhead. Air-to-air guided
missiles are normally fuzed for a proximity burst by using a TDDwith an S&A
device. In some cases, a contact fuze may be used as a backup. Air-to-surface
guided missile fuzing consists of influence (proximity) and/or contact fuzes.
Multifuzing is common in these missiles.

In order to turn the
missile during flight, at least one set of aerodynamic surfaces is designed to
rotate about a center pivot point. In so doing, the angle of attack of
the fin is changed so that the lift force acting on it changes. The changes in
the direction and magnitude of the forces acting on the missile cause it to
move in a different direction and allow the vehicle to maneuver along its path
and guide itself towards its intended target.

6. THE
MANUFACTURING PROCESS

6.1. Raw Materials

Fig 7: Construction of missile body

A laser guided missile consists of four important
components, each of which contains different raw materials. These four
components are the missile body, the guidance system (also called
the laser and electronics suite), the propellant, and the warhead.
The missile body is made from steel alloys or high-strength aluminum alloys
that are often coated with chromium along the cavity of the body in order to
protect against the excessive pressures and heat that accompany a missile
launch. The guidance system contains various types of materials—some basic,
others high-tech—that are designed to give maximum guidance capabilities.

These materials include a photo detecting sensor and optical
filters, with which the missile can interpret laser wavelengths sent from a
parent aircraft. The photo detecting sensor's most important part is its
sensing dome, which can be made of glass, quartz, and/or silicon. A missile's
electronics suite can contain gallium-arsenide semiconductors, but some suites
still rely exclusively on copper or silver wiring. Guided missiles use
nitrogen-based solid propellants as their fuel source. Certain additives (such
as graphite or nitroglycerine) can be included to alter the performance of the
propellant. The missile's warhead can contain highly explosive nitrogen-based
mixtures, fuel-air explosives (FAE), or phosphorous compounds. The warhead is
typically encased in steel, but aluminum alloys are sometimes used as a
substitute.

6.2. Constructing
the body and attaching the fins

The steel or aluminum body is die cast in halves. Die
casting involves pouring molten metal into a steel die of the desired shape and
letting the metal harden.
As it cools, the metal assumes the same shape as the
die. At this time, an optional chromium coating can be applied to the interior
surfaces of the halves that correspond to a completed missile's cavity. The
halves are then welded together, and nozzles are added at the tail end of the
body after it has been welded.